Voltage multipliers are used to create a relatively high DC voltage from an AC power source. Such devices are used in a variety of applications ranging from particle accelerators to more commonplace electronic devices such as photocopiers.
One particular application in which particle accelerators are used is for nuclear-based borehole logging measurements in hydrocarbon resource wells (e.g., oil or natural gas wells). One such miniature, borehole-size particle accelerator is a neutron generator which utilizes the fusion of deuterium and tritium ion at high (100 keV) energies. This device irradiates the formation with 14 MeV neutrons which can be reflected and/or attenuated and, when measured, provide an indication of the hydrogen content of the formation; alternately, the stimulated gamma radiation response from the formation can be measured to provide, among other, an elemental composition of the formation.